Tossing the Dice (Worm SI)

"-UCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"

Jack paused as he heard the profanity laden shouting.

The owner of the voice was a man of average height, who appeared to be of asian origin. He looked around him wildly as he kept on cursing, drawing worried stares from the other people on the street who shied away from him. Jack chuckled to himself, if only they knew.

Still until the festivities began, he could play the part of a good samaritan. Walking upto the increasingly frantic man, Jack coughed softly to attract his attention, making him pause mid-curse. "Excuse me sir, may I help you?"

The man gave him a disdainful look, his brown eyes conveying his displeasure as they took him in briefly. When he spoke up, his voice was filled with disdain. "You can't. So why don't you do me a favor and go fuck yourself!"

Jack blinked at the man's rudeness while he started walking away from him. Well, it seemed being a good samaritan was harder than it looked. Still, he couldn't let the man have the last word.

"Actually-" Jack began, when the man turned towards him once more and interrupted him loudly.

"I TOLD YOU TO FUCK OFF, YOU THIRD CLASS JO..." the man trailed off as he took in Jack's appearance clearly for the first time since he had seen him. It took him a second before it clicked for him, judging from how the man's eyes widened into saucers, with his face paling as he whispered a single word. "Oh."

Jack grinned. And at that very moment all the windows in the town shattered at once. He laughed aloud at the perfect timing; really he couldn't have planned it better himself, while the man alongwith the dozen or so people in sight covered their heads.

The screaming began immediately afterwards, as the significance of the event dawned on everyone in town. Though that might have been just his co-workers being productive. It was the signal after all.

The people around him behaved as expected, scattering like sheep while braying at the top of their lungs. Surprisingly, the man in front of him defied those expectations. Instead of running away with the rest of the herd, he merely backed up a few feet from him as he started speaking gibberish. "Doveeondesayto-"

Jack frowned as he wondered if he'd somehow chance upon one of the few capes in the town. The man's confidence as he stood in front of him definitely suggested so. As far as he was aware there had been only three in the small town and by now all of them were dead, courtesy of Siberian, Mannequin and Hatchet Face. Could there have been a hidden parahuman in the town? It was doubtful, but the only other option was that another cape had decided to visit the out-of-way town at the same time as them.

Well, whatever it was, it seemed his plan had just encountered a surprise. And he loved surprises.

The man came charging at him, whatever task he had been doing seemingly completed. Jack started moving backwards in turn while he lazily swung a knife towards the man, more probing than anything.

And then his knife cut through his opponent's left wrist cleanly, taking Jack completely by surprise.

As the man stumbled before falling to his knees, screaming while clutching at his left stump, Jack felt disappointment rising within him as he stared at the pathetic sight; his lips curling in disgust at the display. More than anything, he hated being disappointed and the man had done just that, after getting his hopes up.

And that was unforgivable.

Jack slashed his knife towards the man once more, drawing a trail of blood across his face. And then once more across his chest. And again. And again.

By the time he was finished, the man was more sliced meat than a human body, yet still breathing. Jack left him like that, slowly bleeding to death. Well now he was in a foul mood.

Hopefully Bonesaw could whip up a new masterpiece that would cheer him up.

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It took me about ten minutes to realize I wasn't dying from the wounds Jack Slash had given me. I had stopped screaming after about five, as I lay waiting to bleed to death.

Could it be...?

I hesitantly brought my intact hand over my face, wiping the blood away as my fingers sought the wound across my left cheek, only to find unbroken skin under them. Immediately, I brought it to my chest next, fingers splaying over my skin as I checked the dozens of cuts across my torso only to find none.

I gasped in relief, thanking my lucky stars. It seemed the number 5 powerset had superhealing included in it. My wrist hadn't grown back yet though, it seemed regrowing limbs took longer. There was another, more frightening possibility but I refused to consider it for now. I looked at where my left arm ended in a stump, somehow still able to feel it despite it not being there.

Could this be what they call the phantom limb pain? I feel like I can still feel through my fingers, still move them according to my will, still touch the concrete on the ground... Wait, what?

My eyes snapped towards where my wrist lay fallen on the road to see it move with my command. I gave an involuntary chuckle at the sight before stumbling to my feet and picking it up. Holding it against the stump, I glanced back at the screams that were coming from the more inner parts of the town. It seemed Slaughterhouse Nine were getting busy with the residents.

I closed my eyes and numbers ranging from 1-10 appeared in the darkness before me - all them in bold except 5 which seemed to be greyed out, with four numbers underneath it.

23:52.

My heart went out to them, but there wasn't anything I could do. While I still had nine unidentified powersets, I had exactly zero knowledge regarding them. I didn't know if they had anything similar to the superhealing number 5 provided, in case I got fatally injured while fighting. And if they didn't, me getting this powerset back would only have a 10% probability as I lay dying.

No, I needed time to figure out my powers before I decided to play hero.

I'm sorry.

With that thought, I tuned around and started running. I didn't stop for a long while, my legs somehow not failing despite how much I ran. In some other good news, my wrist had also started reattaching itself, though it was taking far longer than the cuts across my body. It seemed differing wounds took different times to heal.

I kept myself busy in my thoughts through that time, wondering just exactly which powerset I had been saddled with. The closest approximation I could think of was Deadpool's and I was pretty sure he couldn't control severed limbs.

Half an hour or so later, I had covered enough distance that I was far away from the town. But now that my life wasn't in immediate danger, I could no longer control my rage as it coursed through me unimpeded.

"Motherfucking asshole!" I growled. I wasn't entirely sure at exactly who I was cursing at - the psychotic bastard with the knife or the fucking bitch who had decided to drop me in front of him. Either way, I-

The sound of a vehicle derailed my line of thought and had me look up at the road. A small pick-up truck was coming up from the opposite side of the road. I waved my hand in the air, shouting to get the driver's attention, It worked as the truck came to a stop beside me. There were two men in the front.

"Are you two heading for the town?" I asked the driver. The two shared a look, before the driver replied.

"Yees." the driver drawled out, while the two of them looked at me suspiciously. I couldn't blame them, my shirt was both bloodied and in tatters. I regretted not picking up a shirt while escaping from the town but there wasn't anything I could do now. At least it lent credence to my next words.

"Don't. The Slaughterhouse Nine were just there. By now everyone should be dead. I barely made it out alive."

Both of their eyes widened as they took in my appearance once more before sharing another look among themselves, before the driver spoke up. "Weell, thanks for that stranger! We'll give a call to the authorities once we're back home then. Why don't ya hop up on the truck and come back with us?"

I sighed in relief at the offer, thankful at least things seemed to be going my way now. Smiling gratefully at the two for their help, I replied. "Thanks, that's very much appreciated."​